//------------------------------// // Chapter Two // Story: A Journey Unthought Of // by Hustlin Tom //------------------------------// After standing up and hitting my head on ceiling of the quaint cottage(“You walk on two legs?!”), Lyra led me outside to look out on the small meadow that surrounded her’s and Bon Bon’s home. It stretched out for about 50 feet before hitting the forest edge on two sides: one on the west, the other the south. The sun was just about to hit its zenith for the day I would find out later, and the view down to a little town in the plain below the foothills was quite picturesque. “So where am I?” I asked again. “Well, you’re in a grove near the Everfree Forest, but, more specifically, you’re in Ponyville, in the land of Equestria”, she quibbed, looking out with me on the sunrise. “Equestria?” I had to give a snort; a land of horses with the name ‘Equestria’? That was pretty fitting. “What? Is there something funny about it?” She asked with a half-cocked eyebrow. “No, its just..nevermind.” “Oh really? And what sort of funny named place are you from Adam the Human?” “It’s a place called Earth.” “What a weird name for a town.” “Actually, it’s the name of my planet.” Her jaw dropped in surprise. “You own an entire planet?!” “Oh no, no, no! I live on it, but it’s not mine. I’m no royalty!” “But you have a town you live in, right? A place to call home?” Here my smile faded. “I don’t have a home. Not anymore.” “I’m sorry,” her ears wilted as she apologized. I decided to sit on the grass. With my arms on my knees, I had to admit, the ground was pretty comfy for sitting with the extra padding of the grass. Lyra cocked her head and looked down at me, “Why are you doing that?” I looked up at her, mystified. “It’s comfortable?” “Why do you sit down on your rump though?” she asked as she got on all fours and laid down in the grass next to me. “Why do you lay on your belly?” I fired back. “It’s..comfortable?” I was struck by a mad little idea. “Want to trade postures?” “What?” she looked up at me quizzically, one ear rumpled. “You sit like I’m sitting, and I sit like you are?” “O..kay?” She repositioned herself so her tail was beneath her, her hind legs crossed below her, her forelegs propping her up. “This feels weird..but, actually, it’s not all that uncomfortable!” “Wish I could say the same.” I was on my shins and forearms, head facing down the small incline, head towards the little settlement below. “This was kind of a bad idea on my part!” I heard silence in response. “Hello?” I then felt a shove, and then I found myself tumbling head over heels down the hill. I stopped with a thud on my bottom, and amidst the laughter coming up from the top of the hill, I realized very quickly that Lyra Heartstrings was a mischievous one! She still had an evil grin plastered on her face, as a couple of laughing tears were welling up in her eyes. “Oh you like fun and games do you?” I got up and brushed off the dust from my roll down the hill. “Well, two can play that game!” I got up and quickly shortened the distance between me and my pony acquaintance. Her eyes widened as I quickly stopped beside her. On a hunch, hoping I was right, I decided to see if she was ticklish or not. I found out immediately afterwards that she was, as she shrieked with laughter. All of a sudden, I felt a splitting pain right in my forehead. Not even twelve hours since the last time I decided to hit my head on something! My vision was blurry, but from what I saw, Bon Bon had just hit me across the head with a broom handle. “You will not harm her, monster!” “Bon Bon! He wasn’t attacking me!” “You could have made a foal out of me! I come to hearing you screaming, what was I supposed to do; let him eat you?” My vision returned to me, just in time to see Bon Bon hit me across the shins. “No one hurts my friends!” I fell, and with my luck it figured that I would find the only exposed rock in half of a mile. “Oh Celestia! Bon Bon you idiot! Help me! He’s bleeding everywhere!” “Leave the brute be! You can’t trust an animal! One minute they're nice and cuddly, the next they’ll tear your belly out, like he was about to do!” I had slipped into unconscious again. Lyra found some towels to try to stop my bleeding, as Bon Bon sat in the cottage, aloof to me and her friend. “I got to get Fluttershy! She’d know what to do with him!” She lifted my body up with her magic and galloped as fast as she could to her neighbor’s home nearby. Bon Bon called out after her, “Leave it there! She’s the only one who should bother with beasts! Not you!”